1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to environmental sensors, specifically to environmental sensors that control irrigation systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of a wireless environmental sensor system.
2. Description of Prior Art
This invention relates primarily to the field of automatic irrigation systems like those used for landscape and agricultural watering. Most common types of irrigation systems incorporate a means of controlling the watering cycles via an automatic controller. The need to suspend a watering cycle due to the occurrence of an environmental influence is crucial in order to save natural resources, money, and to prevent unsafe conditions. Such environmental conditions include precipitation, high wind and freezing temperatures. The primary means of halting an automatic watering cycle in this situation is by an operator manually suspending the cycle at the irrigation controller. In most situations this proves to be an ineffective means of conserving resources due to the inconsistent and inefficient methods followed by the operator. In fact, quite often the operator ignores the need to suspend the watering cycle altogether, and in some cases neglects to resume the watering cycle when required, leading to both over-watered and under-watered landscaping, respectively.
It is because of this unreliable and inconvenient manual method that current environmental sensors were developed that allow for an automatic interruption of the controller due to an environmental condition. In particular, the use of rain sensors for irrigation systems has proven to be an effective and economical method of conserving water, energy, and money. This fact can be shown by the increasing number of municipalities throughout the United States who are now requiring that rain sensors be installed on every landscape irrigation system.
Even though reliable, the major drawback of current rain sensors is the extensive installation time and difficult method required for a proper installation. A rain sensor is usually mounted on the side of a structure near its roof in such a manner that it is exposed to the elements equally from all directions. This requires an installer to route a control wire from the sensor to the irrigation system""s control box through the structure""s wall, in an attic, inside a wall, etc. In some low quality installations the wires are run directly on the outside of the structure""s wall, leading to an unattractive installation. Often, this installation is beyond the capabilities of the average home owner, requiring special tools and materials not normally found in the household. Due to the difficult and expensive nature of this installation process, most irrigation systems do not have a rain sensor installed at all, leading to needlessly wasted resources as noted above.
The present invention allows for a quick, easy, and cost effective installation of an environmental sensor such as a rain sensor, by utilizing wireless transmissions of environmental sensor data. The data is wirelessly received at the location of a control mechanism and is interpreted accordingly in order to affect the operation of the controller as desired.
Specifically, this invention uses wireless technology to transmit the status of an environmental sensor, in particular a rain sensor, to a receiving unit that deactivates the watering cycle of an irrigation system as preprogrammed. The transmitter contains at least one environmental sensor such as a rain sensor, an instant precipitation sensor, a freeze sensor, a wind sensor, or the like, but it need not be integrally housed with the sensor. The receiver may be a stand-alone unit that can be retrofitted to any existing irrigation system, an integral part of a control box that is built in at the time of manufacture, or it may xe2x80x9cplug inxe2x80x9d as an upgrade to a pre-configured, accepting controller. The communication means between the transmitter and receiver is one that utilizes a wireless technology such as, but not limited to radio frequency, infrared, or ultrasonic. The transmitter unit would transmit a signal to the receiver based on the status of an environmental sensor and the receiver would respond accordingly as predetermined.
Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the wireless environmental sensor in our above patent, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) to provide for much easier and faster installations of environmental sensors for irrigation systems;
(b) to provide for installations requiring minimal expertise and no special tools or materials;
(c) to provide for additional installation locations that could otherwise not be accomplished without undue effort and expense;
(d) to provide for xe2x80x9ccleanerxe2x80x9d installations without running unsightly wires;
(e) to provide for ease in retrofit type installations, integrating with already installed irrigation systems;
(f) to provide for installation locations that are safer for the installer to access.
Further objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.